Gaara Makes A Friend
by Deida
Summary: Gaara is a hard working ninja with a problem: he is all work and no play until he mets a friend.
1. Suna

Kankurou sat at a work bench, fixing Karasu. Temari came in, blushing and out of breath. She told him that Gaara had an important guest and that he was to get ready. Then she left him to his work. He sighed and stopped working. He put his tools away and went to his room to get ready.

He entered the dinning room. Gaara was talking to someone in a long cerulean veil and a white cloak. Long orange hair poked out of the veil. Temari was reading a letter. Kankurou sat down next to the guest. She turned to him.

"Hello, I am Kanna, ambassador of the village hidden in the rain."

"Kankurou."

"Gaara-sama was just explaining the ties with Konoha. He said that you have an idea for me."

"Yeah, marriage seems to work everytime. It strengthens the ties between villages when their members, not to mention the most beloved ones, are joined in marriage. It just makes sense."

"So you're saying that we should heavily encourage inter-village relationships?"

"I guess I am."

"You are the best brother ever!! I'm going to write Shika and tell him the good news!"

Temari raced from the table into her room. Gaara shook his head. Kanna merely sat there. Kankurou started to eat his dinner of chicken. Gaara just stared at his plate the whole time. Kanna ate slowly, cautious of poison. After dinner, Gaara led Kanna to his office. He sat behind his desk. Kanna leaned against the wall.

"He sure did strike a smart idea. I think that we should have a kind of mixer."

"Yeah. Have a singles month every other month. And have it in a different village each time..."

That continued for several hours. One would pitch ideas while the other either wrote them down or flat out rejected the idea. They moved from their spots after awhile and both ended up sitting together on the floor. It took a yawn for them to take a brake. Kanna's attention had started to ebb away hours ago.

At Kanna's suggestion, they went outside to the sandy twilight. She took off her cloak and veil. Skin-tight shorts, a baggy jacket, and a knee-length ponytail were revealed. She set them next to the door. She nodded her head toward the heart of the city. Gaara raised his eye. Kanna started to run. Gaara made a small wave of sand under his feet and followed her. It was clear that she could be a fierce opponent. She was the fastest person Gaara had ever seen and it took nearly all his chakra to keep up with her.

They arrived back at Gaara's as dawn begain to break. Kanna was full of energy has she put her things in her room. She beamed as Gaara sat down at his desk. She leaned against the wall again. There was a firey gleam in Kanna's frosty eyes. Gaara was reminded of Rock Lee.

"Wasn't that a fun walk?! It just stunk having to hold back, didn't it? You need to smile! If you work too much, you might die."

Gaara looked to the side as memories of his death flooded his mind.

"Yeah, I'll remember that. In the mean time-"

Kanna glared at him, "Are you only work? Don't you know fun?"

"No."

Kanna walked over to him. She stood behind his chair and bent over so her mouth was inches from his ear. She put her hands on his shoulder and gave him a hug. Gaara hugged her back to the best of his ability. A tear fell on his head.

"I know your pain. I know you are alone. I don't know why, but I know. I know your sorrow, even though it is not my own. I know your pain. I'm here now. I'm here. I'm your friend."


	2. Konoha

"Friend?" The word was foreign to Gaara.

Kanna nodded her head. She moved so he could see her clearly. Kanna sat across from Gaara. Gaara stared at her. She was smiling at him. He looked her confused beyond belief.

"How can two people be friends if they have no connection in experiences? How is that possible? There would be no common ground."

"So? Weirder things have happened." Kanna shrugged.

Kanna's phone rang. She asked to be pardoned and took the call. Gaara mused over her words while she was gone. It could work. But a friendship made of nothing whatsoever? Gaara questioned it. It sounded perfect. And nothing was perfect, so clearly the friendship would be drenched crimson in fights. Kanna came back in and shook her head.

"My father is just so...unh!!"

"What?"

"My father is just being dumb. He's mad because I wasn't there for our 'hunt'. But I only missed it because of him in the first place!"

"Hunt?"

"Well, you know that I'm from Ame, right? You see, my father is the mysterious leader of the Ame. And he is killer, lets leave it at that, and ever since I can remember, he has always released some of the death row inmates. We would hunt them down and kill them. It wasn't that bad, seeing as they'd have died anyway. We only sped up the process a bit."

"So you had a bloody childhood too?"

"Unbelievably bloody. I just can't believe you're not freaking out about what I told you."

"When one has a bloody childhood, blood seldom has effect."

"True. See, we do have a common ground."

"We do. don't we?"

The Kazekage became quiet. Kanna looked at the clock on the wall. She yawned and said goodnight. She went to bed to rest for tomorrow. Now they had to decide on things, approve them or not, apply them for request, set it all up, met with the village heads, and a mess of other things. But they would worry about that in the morning.

After two days of paperwork, Kanna ad Gaara had to part ways. Gaara had to stay to be the Kazekage, and Kanna had to travel to get the other village's in on the plan. Temai, the Suna ambassador, went with her. The first spot was Konoha, being the closest and most influential. And hopefully while they were there, they could get an ambassador from Konoha. Or at least a bodyguard. Their route was going to be dangerous after Konoha.

Once at Konoha, the girls went to the Hokage's office. Tsunade was out at the moment, so they had time to kill. Temari went to find Shikamaru. Kanna had no clue what to do or where to go. Just as she passed Ichiraku, her stomach protested. She decided to go into the restaurant. There was a blond boy Gaara's age inside, already eating. Kanna sat nex to him. After slurping his mouthful of ramen, he spoke.

"Hey, hey, who is that girl? Has she been here before?" The blond asked the shopowner.

Kanna clenched her fist, "Girl? And I'm right here, I can hea you. My name is Kanna, from Ame." She pulled out her ID and showed it to the both of them.

"Ame, huh? What brings you here?"

"A mission. What was your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"I've heard of you!" Kanna pointed at Naruto.

"And what have you heard? That Hokage to be? Or of my great adventures?"

"No, none of that. I heard my father mention you once or twice in his work is all. And, Gaara spoke of you once." Kanna started to eat her ramen.

"What'd he say? Gaara, I mean."

"Just that you saved him, he's forever grateful, and that he considers you his best friend, more or less in those words."

Naruto smiled brightly. He paid for his ramen and said goodbye to Kanna. Kanna finished her Ramen and back to Tsunade's office to wait. The Hokage was already there with Temari. Temari was looking around with disinterest. Kanna sat next to Temari. Tsunade introduced herself. Then Kanna followed her example. Temari and Kanna made their presentation. Tsunade was interested and gave them her personal approval. The two then asked if they could have another ambassador or a bodyguard. Tsunade gave them both.

Sakura Haruno was the ambassador. Naruto and Kakashi Hatake were the bodyguards. The three were waiting by the village gates when it was time to leave. Temari was clearly dissappointed by Shikamaru Nara's absence. Kanna tried to cheer Temari up. She really impressed Kakashi and Sakura with her jokes.

--

Note: this story is pre-timeskip, when Sakura is still weak and useless. At this point, she has only just started healing and is barely able to heal a scrape. Sorry for the short chapters, the first chapters for my stories were written before I even really thought about seriously putting them on a site. I always toyed with the idea, but never did untill now. And I don't own Naruto.


	3. The End

Kanna led the way to the next stop on the list, Kiri. She talked with her fellow ambassadors about how to handle Kiri nin. Both Girls found it interesting what Kanna was saying. Kakashi confirmed her every detail. It seemed that Kanna knew Kiri better then Kakashi. That surprised everyone, even Temari. Kakashi asked how she knew so much. She told him that her father sent her everywhere on business. She told them that she has been an ambassador for about six years. They were all impressed. Naruto didn't get the political part of it, but he understood the time she spent on her job.

Once in Kiri, the nin took a break. They spoke very little and mostly slept. When they were all ready, the went to see the Mizukage. It turned out the the Mizukage was doing the same thing. Only they hadn't sent out any ambassadors yet. That made things very easy for Kanna, Temari and Sakura. The Mizukage sent an ambassador of their own to accompany the others. It was also a female, by the name of Hoshi.

The group then went to Kumo. There they had no success. The Raikage saw them, but quickly turned down the plan. Kanna knew that he was set in his ways. The others wanted to try and change his mind. Kanna convinced them it was hopeless and they left, downhearted. Hoshi also knew it was hopeless and helped Kanna prove her point. Luckily, Kanna had contacted a friend in Iwa. While she was busy here, he was setting it up with the Tsuchikage. He told her via a letter that it was all good on his end.

Kanna told everyone that they could now go home. Hoshi nodded and was off. Temari stayed with the Konoha nin. Kanna went home. Among the letter from her friend, she ot one her father telling her to hurry home. She did, knowing her father was not one any one could go against, not even her own mother. Kanna told Temari to say hello to Gaara for her. Then she left with one last joke.

Kanna arrived home at midnight that very night. Her father was waiting impatiently for her. Her mother and the rest of her father's followers were inside the house. They all eyed her as they always did. But said or did nothing more, afraid of her father's wrath. Kanna sat down beside her mother and father.

"Pein, are we ready yet?" Kanna asked her father.

"Yes daughter, we are. The first target is one you can help us with. The new Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara." Konan spoke this time.

Kanna's eyes widened. She didn't want to disobey her father, but she didn't want to have a hand in Gaara's death either. She chose now, in front of her father and the rest of the Akatsuki, to stand up. She stood up and looked at her father. He looked at her, waiting for her reason.

"No, I will not help you kill my friend. He is the best friend I ever had. If you're going to kill him, you will have to kill me first. If you don't-"

Pein, having no mercy or love, killed her. It was then that the Akatsuki realized just how evil and fearful their leader really was. Konan felt immediate grief and sorrow, but she knew better then to repeat her daughter's actions. She loved her daughter, but she loved herself more. Pein shortly sent Deidara and Sasori after Gaara.

* * *

I don't own Naruto. Sorry for the short story and chapter. Sorry for the sad ending, but I couldn't think of a good ending and wanting to end the story, so I came up with this.


End file.
